Wallace Arnold

Phill_d · Post by **Phill_d** » Sun 20 Apr, 2008 9:04 pm

Good point that Trojan. The advertising hoardings seemed to have 1999 as the last season there.

slw · Post by **slw** » Sun 20 Apr, 2008 9:12 pm

The offices and garage/bodyshop moved premises to the bottom of Lowfields Road (Gelderd Road side). People could join the coach at the Lowfields Road site and they would be transported to the Interchange which moved from Gelderd Road to Hartshead Moor Services. The competition was to celebrate WA's 70th anniversary.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Sun 20 Apr, 2008 9:23 pm

Trojan wrote: slw wrote: I agree Raveydavey. WA moved from the site around 1999. I thought who ever owned the land would have developed it or sold it in the time it's been empty. So between 1999 and the merger with Shearings where did their buses arrive and depart? They moved to new premises on Lowfields Road further down Gelderd Road near the old LICS Dairy.There is an excellent aerial view of the old premises (including Trust Motors) here: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|g ... %20England(You'll probably need to cut and paste that into your browser).If you move along Gelderd Road to Lowfields Road on the "Birds Eye" setting there appears to be a Shearings Coach parked outside where they moved to...rotate the pic and there are up to 4 coaches there.I know Shearings have a massive new purpose built site out by the M62 at Whitwood (I think) so I'd guess most of the business has moved out there.The former Trust Motors bodyshop is now a Tile Depot (or similar) - or it was last time I passed!

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sun 04 May, 2008 8:18 pm

Here is a picture of a pre war Wallace Arnold's coach - a bit obscured, the occasion is the men's trip from the "top 'oil" in Churwell, men's pub trips were fairly common up to the fifties, my dad used to organise one from the Fountain at Morley

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 23 May, 2008 9:14 am

I worked at Wallace Arnolds from 1963 to 1964 full time, and till 1969 part time. The new depot and coach station at Gelderd Road opened, after many delays due to site flooding and other difficulties, in the mid 1960s - how time flies eh ?? Before that we were in a redundant LCT depot in Donisthorpe Street off South Accommodation Road - strangely on EXACTLY the same site as the new "First" depot which opened last Sunday.Folk in this topic who thought the night service to Great Yarmouth was a pain should have had a bash at the Torquay/Paignton night route - the worst ordeal I ever suffered in 44 years "on the buses." There were no motorways or town by-passes and it was, I think, 330 miles each way and the running time was 14 hours. Two drivers, and one had the use of the double seat behind the other at the wheel to "rest." We used to leave The Calls at 5.30pm Friday evening - various pickups to follow - and arrive (supposedly) at Paignton at 7am Saturday where, sfter a quick cold shave, we had to set off back almost immediately. Due back in Leeds about 10pm Saturday but it was often an hour or two later as the holiday traffic was horrendous of course, and some of the least able coaches were expected to do the long journey - and the luggage accommodation was a nightmare as I'm sure some of the passengers were emigrating with everything they possessed !!Just a few of my own photos from my time there on a "mini website" that I started recently may be of interest - haven't had tiime to do as much with it as I would like yet.44yearsbuswork.fotopic.net

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 26 May, 2008 8:58 pm

BLAKEY wrote: I worked at Wallace Arnolds from 1963 to 1964 full time, and till 1969 part time. The new depot and coach station at Gelderd Road opened, after many delays due to site flooding and other difficulties, in the mid 1960s - how time flies eh ?? Before that we were in a redundant LCT depot in Donisthorpe Street off South Accommodation Road - strangely on EXACTLY the same site as the new "First" depot which opened last Sunday.Folk in this topic who thought the night service to Great Yarmouth was a pain should have had a bash at the Torquay/Paignton night route - the worst ordeal I ever suffered in 44 years "on the buses." There were no motorways or town by-passes and it was, I think, 330 miles each way and the running time was 14 hours. Two drivers, and one had the use of the double seat behind the other at the wheel to "rest." We used to leave The Calls at 5.30pm Friday evening - various pickups to follow - and arrive (supposedly) at Paignton at 7am Saturday where, sfter a quick cold shave, we had to set off back almost immediately. Due back in Leeds about 10pm Saturday but it was often an hour or two later as the holiday traffic was horrendous of course, and some of the least able coaches were expected to do the long journey - and the luggage accommodation was a nightmare as I'm sure some of the passengers were emigrating with everything they possessed !!Just a few of my own photos from my time there on a "mini website" that I started recently may be of interest - haven't had tiime to do as much with it as I would like yet.44yearsbuswork.fotopic.net Thats got the makings of an interesting website Blakey.My dad went on a couple of European jaunts with WA in the mid/late 60's and he remembers flying cross-channel from Southend. Maybe you were the driver on one of those trips, eh?

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 27 May, 2008 10:33 am

RAVEYDAVEY WROTE :-"My dad went on a couple of European jaunts with WA in the mid/late 60's and he remembers flying cross-channel from Southend. Maybe you were the driver on one of those trips, eh?"Yes, every possibility - it was one of my favourite runs (although very hard going) and I did it many a time. We had fantastic digs in Prittlewell with a genuine cockney (Bow Bells) lady called Vicky who's breakfasts were legendsry - first job when you got there was shirt off, wsshed and ironed ready for next day, all part of the service. We had a great social time in Southend as well - ten pin bowling on the Pier, and the upstairs bar in a pub called the Alexandra (Top Alex) was a popular gathering place for a relaxing laugh and gossip. The icing on the cake in what was normally a very hard job indeed - the coaches were cleaned and refuelled on a contract basis at the Eastern National depot at Prittlewell - providers of the relief vehicle shown in one of my pictures.Very Happy Days indeed, and in some ways seems like only yesterday !!

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Tue 27 May, 2008 11:02 pm

BLAKEY wrote: I worked at Wallace Arnolds from 1963 to 1964 full time, and till 1969 part time. The new depot and coach station at Gelderd Road opened, after many delays due to site flooding and other difficulties, in the mid 1960s - how time flies eh ?? Before that we were in a redundant LCT depot in Donisthorpe Street off South Accommodation Road - strangely on EXACTLY the same site as the new "First" depot which opened last Sunday.Folk in this topic who thought the night service to Great Yarmouth was a pain should have had a bash at the Torquay/Paignton night route - the worst ordeal I ever suffered in 44 years "on the buses." There were no motorways or town by-passes and it was, I think, 330 miles each way and the running time was 14 hours. Two drivers, and one had the use of the double seat behind the other at the wheel to "rest." We used to leave The Calls at 5.30pm Friday evening - various pickups to follow - and arrive (supposedly) at Paignton at 7am Saturday where, sfter a quick cold shave, we had to set off back almost immediately. Due back in Leeds about 10pm Saturday but it was often an hour or two later as the holiday traffic was horrendous of course, and some of the least able coaches were expected to do the long journey - and the luggage accommodation was a nightmare as I'm sure some of the passengers were emigrating with everything they possessed !!Just a few of my own photos from my time there on a "mini website" that I started recently may be of interest - haven't had tiime to do as much with it as I would like yet.44yearsbuswork.fotopic.net That was brilliant. I remember as a (very little) kid going to Scarborough with WA in a coach with a half cab, cream with a red stripe. We set off from West Street in Morley - WA had a booking office on South Queen Street. My mum alway preferred to go to Blackpool with WA (or Hargreaves the local Morley coach operator) because they went via Ilkley, Skipton, Gisburn and Clitheroe as opposed to the Yorkshire Woollen route through all the mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Tue 27 May, 2008 11:57 pm

TROJAN WROTE :-"That was brilliant. I remember as a (very little) kid going to Scarborough with WA in a coach with a half cab, cream with a red stripe. We set off from West Street in Morley - WA had a booking office on South Queen Street. My mum alway preferred to go to Blackpool with WA (or Hargreaves the local Morley coach operator) because they went via Ilkley, Skipton, Gisburn and Clitheroe as opposed to the Yorkshire Woollen route through all the mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire"Happy days eh Trojan ?? I bet you can remember queueing up for refreshments at the famous Commercial pub/cafe in Gisburn. Talk about "any port in a storm" - the place was usually awash with spilt tea, crumbs and crisp packets etc. Mind you, to be fair they treated the drivers very well in our own private little room - we got a decent snack and tea AND a packet of ten cigarettes.Then at Blackpool Princess Street "coach station" was even worse - the spilt tea deeper than Gisburn, and the crumbs and split tomato sauce even more determined. Rumour had it that Egon Ronay had once called on an assessment visit but had fled screaming down the Promenade !!

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Wed 28 May, 2008 1:01 am

BLAKEY wrote: TROJAN WROTE :-"That was brilliant. I remember as a (very little) kid going to Scarborough with WA in a coach with a half cab, cream with a red stripe. We set off from West Street in Morley - WA had a booking office on South Queen Street. My mum alway preferred to go to Blackpool with WA (or Hargreaves the local Morley coach operator) because they went via Ilkley, Skipton, Gisburn and Clitheroe as opposed to the Yorkshire Woollen route through all the mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire"Happy days eh Trojan ?? I bet you can remember queueing up for refreshments at the famous Commercial pub/cafe in Gisburn. Talk about "any port in a storm" - Yes. It's gone now - it's houses, however the place on the other side of the road where Hargreaves stopped (White Bull I think) is still there and operating. The stop in Burnley where Yorkshire Woollen stopped - Four Lane Ends was just as grotty, it was a Nissan Hut. There used to be a snack called Nib-its - I had my first packet at the Four Lane Ends - they had a peculiar taste.